


o, be some other name

by Siria



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 20:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14577159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siria/pseuds/Siria
Summary: Steve did it all properly: filled out the Social Security forms, the bank forms, the application for a new driver's license.





	o, be some other name

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to trinityofone for reading over this for me.

Steve did it all properly: filled out the Social Security forms, the bank forms, the application for a new driver's license. SHIELD HR did the bulk of the heavy lifting with payroll and health insurance, but Steve still had to fill out a new W-4 and formally request that his srogers@shield.gov account forward on to his new email address. He wasn't trying to hide anything, any more than he was trying to hide the gold band that now wrapped around his ring finger. It was just that no one at work seemed to notice. He was plain _Cap_ to most people on a daily basis, after all, and Nat was going through a phase of calling him "Steven" because she thought that irritated him.

(It did, a little, but he was never going to let her know that.)

In the end, it wasn't anyone at SHIELD who leaked it. Someone recognised him when they went out for breakfast and snapped a picture on their phone just as Steve was handing his credit card over to the waitress. The camera quality on the newest model StarkPhone was pretty good, which meant that within a matter of hours someone on Twitter was asking _hold up why is cap paying with a card that says steven r. carter on it?? is that like an undercover thing or?? @mastercard @ShieldPressOffice #CapSighting #Captainamerica #thatjawlinetho_.

There were a lot of retweets. Not as many as the time Thor had gone skinny-dipping at noon on Copacabana Beach, but still a lot. Steve was probably going to have to buy apology doughnuts for the staffers in the press office. 

"Well, we knew someone was going to notice at some point," Peggy said. She was sitting on their bed in the middle of the afternoon, wearing nothing more than one of Steve's old t-shirts and some slightly smeared red lipstick and she was, Steve thought, so very beautiful.

"Was hoping for a little longer of a honeymoon, though," Steve said. He dismissed the dozens of notifications on his phone, thanked Maria ("Your card's already cancelled. You're welcome"), and pointedly deleted without answering the message Nat had sent him that consisted of a string of emojis and a link to a Buzzfeed article whose headline featured the words "Captain America", "hitched", and "OMG" very prominently. Looked like someone had already got hold of a copy of the marriage license. He set the phone down on the charging pad on the nightstand and handed the glass of water he'd gone to fetch over to Peggy.

"It's been nine weeks," Peggy said, taking a sip of water and leaning back against the mound of pillows. "Rather more than most people get." The hem of her shirt rode up so that Steve could see the scrape of beard burn prickling pink across her inner thighs. Despite the fact that he was entirely naked, and a married man, and the one responsible for that beard burn, Steve felt his cheeks heat.

"Compound interest," Steve said firmly, which maybe didn't make much sense, but it did make Peggy laugh. That, he thought, as he sat down on the bed next to her, was the most important thing—that he was her husband now, and that he could make her happy.

"I suppose we are owed a little time spent not saving the world from anything in particular," Peggy said, a mock thoughtful look on her face. "But honestly, this will be one of those tabloid sensations for a week and once it blows over, everyone will just forget about it."

"Maybe," Steve hedged. "Maybe not." The fact that Peggy had arrived here directly from 1948 via a malfunctioning time travel device meant that she was still a little hazy about things like the internet, or why a lot of people on cable news had long ago decided that it made good financial sense to declare that Captain America was actually, when you really thought about it, _bad_ for America. A man could marry another man now, but there was still one hell of a gap between _tolerated_ and _no big deal_. 

Steve had long since realised that most people could find the smaller change scarier than the bigger one. Folks had been out on street corners selling "Battle of New York" merchandise within days, because coming to terms with the existence of aliens hellbent on conquering the planet took a back seat when there was a buck to be made. But for a man to take his wife's name, well, Steve could already imagine the headlines of the concerned op-eds in the _Times_. 

Peggy drained her glass and set it down on the nightstand, hooked one of her legs over his. "Besides, I'm quite sure that young Tony will soon get jealous at you stealing the limelight from him and will demand it back."

"You think so, huh?" The warm press of Peggy's toes against his shin was distracting. "He already renamed that building after Ms Potts, but I guess if he wanted to—"

"Mr Carter," Peggy said imperiously. "Less talking right now, if you please."

"That's _Captain_ Carter to you, Agent Carter," Steve said, flopping onto his back and tugging Peggy with him so that she ended up straddling his belly.

"Steve." Peggy's smile was blinding. Basking in the warmth of it felt like coming out of the ice all over again—like every nerve was sparking back to life, a pain that was pleasure because he could breathe again.

"Thank you," he said. "For asking me." He ran his fingers over her legs, light as he could over the beard burn and thrilling at how she shivered against him. Nine weeks married. Seventeen, since a crack had opened in the sky over Coney Island and Peggy had fallen through onto the boardwalk with a thump and a soft cry of _oh, bugger_.

"For a man who swore he didn't know how to talk to women, you do have a way about you," Peggy said, bracing herself against his shoulders.

"Well, hadn't you heard, I'm pretty much a whole new guy now," Steve said with a grin.

Steve had put on the Captain America costume for two years because it was the only way he could see of becoming someone who could help, and then he'd slept through seventy more while people made a costume out of Steven G. Rogers, put up statues to his patriotism and wrote essay collections critiquing his jingoism. _Steve Rogers_ wasn't a person any more, he was a guy you dressed up as on Halloween. And maybe people had followed Steve Rogers because they thought he was Captain America, but for certain Steve preferred to be this: a man whose name proved that he could make himself over for the sake of a vow.


End file.
